This invention relates to a suction cleaning device and, more particularly, to a cleaning device which is mobile and adapted for use with very high velocity air vacuum sources.
The invention is directed to providing an added and new capability for high velocity vacuum cleaning systems such as in the vacuum truck industry. Presently, "vacuum trucks" are used in industrial cleaning applications, but the jobs of cleaning large surface areas have mostly been restricted to conventional sweepers, such as known street sweepers or the like. A restricted use area has resulted because, although vacuum trucks create tremendous movement of air with the power to move practically any loose material, such systems have been restricted to the relatively small area of a suction hose located at the rear of a truck. In those instances where a suction hose is used for street sweeping, for instance, or other surface cleaning uses, auxiliary brushes or baffles have been used to direct the debris to the vacuum hose entry. Little or no attempts have been made to effectively spread this high power source over an area large enough to make a practical tool in cleaning larger surface areas without auxiliary brushes or baffles. The brushes are used to disturb the material from the surface and direct it to an area of high vacuum force. This is a costly process because of the constant friction and replacement of parts, resulting in high maintenance costs in addition to the high initial outlay cost of conventional street sweepers.
The present invention contemplates utilizing the high velocity air flow of such vacuum systems as the actual sweeping medium to clean large surface areas. the air velocity created is actually so great that the system can pick up medium sized stones and debris. Because of the use of a vacuum hose with very large positive displacement blowers, and with the hose having a relatively small cross-sectional dimension, such systems heretofore have not been used effectively for cleaning or sweeping considerably large surface areas. The debris normally is accumulated onto a pile or, in mobile units, directed toward a single location by brushes or baffles, and then picked up by the vacuum hose. The present invention provides a device which has various rollers and seal means which confine the high velocity air flow as the moving force to clean surface areas.